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Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Three qualified players joined almost 200 GMs in the first phase of the Chessable Masters, the Play-In. This 9-round Swiss served to find 69 players who, together with Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vladimir Fedoseev, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri and Vladislav Artemiev, will participate in the Division Placement stage on Thursday — players then fight to enter the knockout phase in one of three divisions.
Two players finished the tournament (with a 10+2 time control) tied for first place with 7½/9 points each, Jose Martinez from Peru and David Anton from Spain. Three participants finished a half point behind: Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Samvel Ter-Sahakyan.
Remarkably, Martinez outscored some of the strongest players in the world on his 25th birthday. The Peruvian online-chess specialist scored six wins in a row, beating the likes of Aryan Tari and Vincent Keymer.
In round 4, the eventual winner of the event defeated Dutch GM Robby Kevlishvili in style.
18.Bxh6 is the perfect way to break through. After 18...gxh6 19.Qd2 Bf8 20.Nxh6+ Kh7 21.Nf6+ it becomes clear why White’s sacrifice was justified in the first diagrammed position.
21...Kg7 22.Nhg4 Kh8 23.Qg5 and Kevlishvili finally resigned. The black pieces on the queenside are completely out of play.
Meanwhile, 1.b3 has also found its way into the practice of today's world elite, and now finally a modern top ten player has taken on the subject for ChessBase: none other than Grandmaster Wesley So!
These are the 15 players that will fight for a spot in Division I tomorrow! 🏆 #ChessableMasters pic.twitter.com/NYHBHo1BCR
— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) January 31, 2024
While Martinez started the day with six wins in a row and grabbed three draws in rounds 7-9 to remain atop the standings (including a lucky escape against Nakamura), Anton lost in round 4 against Kacper Piorun, and ended the day with five consecutive victories.
In the third round, Anton’s rook and knight completely dominated Rodrigo Vasquez’s counterparts.
Material is equal and Black has a passed pawn on the d-file, but resigning the game, as Black did here, makes perfect sense — e.g. 42...Kb7 43.Rf7+ Ka8 44.Rc7, and there is no satisfactory way to save the knight.
Martinez and Anton were two of the fifteen players who qualified to fight for spots in the Division I of the event.
Pairings round 1 for tomorrow's Division I placement matches 👀 #ChessableMasters pic.twitter.com/2f3EMspRyh
— Champions Chess Tour (@ChampChessTour) January 31, 2024
| # | Player | Rating | Pts. |
| 1 |
GM Jose Martinez Alcantara |
2722 | 7.5 |
| 2 |
GM David Anton Guijarro |
2655 | 7.5 |
| 3 |
GM Hikaru Nakamura |
2774 | 7 |
| 4 |
GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan |
2641 | 7 |
| 5 |
GM Alireza Firouzja |
2812 | 7 |
| 6 |
GM Vincent Keymer |
2741 | 6.5 |
| 7 |
GM Rauf Mamedov |
2722 | 6.5 |
| 8 |
GM Wesley So |
2856 | 6.5 |
| 9 |
GM Peter Svidler |
2663 | 6.5 |
| 10 |
GM Yu Yangyi |
2748 | 6.5 |
| 11 |
GM Denis Lazavik |
2745 | 6.5 |
| 12 |
GM David Paravyan |
2644 | 6.5 |
| 13 |
GM Aleksandar Indjic |
2527 | 6.5 |
| 14 |
GM Levon Aronian |
2720 | 6.5 |
| 15 |
GM Kirill Shevchenko |
2645 | 6.5 |
| 16 |
GM Benjamin Bok |
2612 | 6.5 |
| 17 |
GM Kacper Piorun |
2413 | 6 |
| 18 |
GM Aleksandr Shimanov |
2623 | 6 |
| 19 |
GM Oleksandr Bortnyk |
2636 | 6 |
| 20 |
GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov |
2630 | 6 |
| 21 |
GM Igor Lysyj |
2609 | 6 |
| 22 |
GM S P Sethuraman |
2576 | 6 |
| 23 |
GM Yuriy Kuzubov |
2702 | 6 |
| 24 |
GM Haik Martirosyan |
2621 | 6 |
| 25 |
GM Alexander Grischuk |
2684 | 6 |
| 26 |
GM Vladimir Malakhov |
2624 | 6 |
| 27 |
GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov |
2629 | 6 |
| 28 |
GM Jeffery Xiong |
2669 | 6 |
| 29 |
GM Mikhail Al Antipov |
2649 | 6 |
| 30 |
GM Martyn Kravtsiv |
2614 | 6 |
In this video course, twenty-nine examples with multiple questions are presented in the interactive format, which is ideal for a range of playing strengths. Step by step you will be taken through the complex positions.
